Carding-machine.



No. 896,604, PATENTED AUG. 18, 1908. F. P. WOLL & G. S GHOPIELD.

GARDING MACHINE. APPLIOATION-IILBD FEB.13, 1908.

u-I"//////////////////////////////7/b FREDERICK PETER WOLL AND CHARLES SCHO FIELD, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

CARDING-MACHINE Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 18, 1908.

Application filed February 13, 1908. Serial No. 115,737.- 4

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, FREDERICK PETER WVOLL and CHARLES SoHoFIELD, citizens of the United States, residing atPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented certain I1nprovements in Carding-Machines, of which the following is a specification. 2

The object of our invention is to so construct a machine for carding animal or vege table fibers that the action of the teeth of the cylinder and workers upon the fibers will have less tendency to break, tear, or otherwise injure the latter than in carding machines as heretofore devised. This object we attain in the manner hereinafter set forth, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is a sectional view of sufficient of a machine for carding or straightening hair or like fiber to properly illustrate our invention, and Fig. 2 is a sectional view of part of a carding machine of a somewhat different type, and illustrating a modification of our invention.

In Fig. 1 of the drawing, 1 represents a casing having a concave bottom 2 inclosing the lower half of a toothed cylinder 3 carried by a shaft 4, which is adapted to bearings in opposite sides of the casing 1 and is rotated in the direction of the arrow by any suitable mechanism.

Grouped together adjacent to the upper portion of the cylinder 3 are a series of toothed workers 5, four of which are shown in the present instance, although a greater or less number than this may be used, as the character of the work to be performed may suggest. Each of these workers is carried by a shaft 6, adapted to suitable bearings on the sides of the casing 1, and each worker is so rotated, in the direction of its respective arrow, that, while the teeth of the workers, at the points where they coact with the teeth of the cylinder, travel forwardly with the latter teeth, the movement is slower than that of the cylinder teeth, whereby the workers exercise a retarding effect upon the fibers and cause the teeth of the cylinder to comb, card, or straighten out said fibers.

The essential feature of our invention consists in differentially speeding these workers in respect to the speed of the cylinder, the first worker having the highest surface speed, the next a somewhat slower surface speed, and so on, progressively to the last worker. By reason of this construction the surface speed of the first worker may approximate to that of the cylinder, hence said worker will have a minimum of retarding effect upon the fibers, such retarding effect being progressively increased as the fibers are drawn forward and brought under the influence of the successive workers of the series, until, by the time they have passed the last worker, the desired carding, combing, or straightening of the fibers will have been completed.

Various means within the knowledge of those skilled in the art may be adopted for the purpose of imparting the desired differential surface speed to the Workers, and in Fig. 1 we have indicated one means for accomplishing this result, said means comprir' ing a spur wheel 7 on the cylinder shaft, which spur wheel meshes with a spur pinion 9 on an adjacent shaft, the latter being also provided with a sprocket wheel 10 to which, and to sprocket wheels 11 on the worker shafts 6, is adapted an endless chain belt 12.

In order to simplify the drawing no attempt has been made to show the teeth of the various wheels or the links of the chain, said chain and the pitch lines of the wheels being represented by dotted lines.

The desired differential speeding of the various workers is effected by the use of sprocket wheels 11 of different diameters on the successive worker shafts, the sprocket wheel on the shaft of the first worker being the smallest and that on the shaft of the last worker being the largest.

The fibers which are to be subjected to the action of the machine are delivered from a feed apron 13 to a pair of feed rolls 14 suitably rotated in the direction of the arrows these feed rolls discharging the fibers onto the teeth of the cylinder whereby they are carried forward and subjected to the action of the various workers of the series in succession, the action being a gradual and progressive one because of the differential speeding of said workers.

The fibers are delivered from the teeth of the cylinder 3 through an outlet 15 in the casing 1 over an inclined apron 16 in said casing, and in order to protect the workers and yet permit ready access thereto, and also to prevent any escape of fiber at the top of the machine, the group of workers is partially inclosed within a hood 17, pivoted, at 19, to the casing 1, a hinged fiap 20 covering the space between said hood and the adjacent portion of the casing.

In the modification of our invention illustrated in Fig. 2 the workers all have the same number of revolutions per minute imparted to them by reason of the fact that all of the sprocket wheels 1 1 on the shafts of said workers are of the same diameter, the difference in surface speed being effected by varying the diameter of the workers, the same progressively decreasing in diameter from the inlet to the discharge end of the series, and it will be evident that other systems of gearing may be resorted to for accomplishing the desired result. Fig. 2 also shows a machine in which the cylinder and workers are equipped with hooked teeth, similar to those of an ordinary machine for carding textile fibers, instead of with the straight teeth such as are used upon the cylinder and workers of the hair carding or straightening machine shown in Fig. 1.

Owing to the fact that in our machine the carding or straightening of the fibers is effected by a series of actions each somewhat stronger than the preceding one the machine is especially adapted for treating hair or similar fibers of a relatively brittle character, and which are liable to be broken or otherwise injured by any sudden or severe strain upon them, the action of our machine resembling that of a gill box rather than that of the usual carding machine.

We claim 1. The combination, in a fiber carding or straightening machine, of a toothed rotating cylinder, a series of toothed rotating workers disposed in close succession around the same, whereby the cylinder constitutes the sole means for carrying fiber from one worker to the other, means for feeding the fibers to the machine, and means for so driving the workers that they will exert a progressively increasing retarding effect upon the fibers from the receiving to the delivery end of the series.

2. The combination, in a fiber carding or straightening machine, of a toothed, rotating cylinder, a series of toothed, rotating workers disposed around said cylinder, means for feeding the fibers to the machine, and means for driving the workers with a progressively decreasing surface speed from the receiving to the delivery end of the series, the direction of rotation of said cylinder and workers causing their teeth to travel forwardly, at the points where they co-act.

3. The combination, in a fiber carding or straightening machine, of a toothed, rotating cylinder, a series of toothed rotating workers of uniform diameter disposed around said cylinder, means for feeding the fibers to the machine, and means for driving the workers with a progressively decreasing surface speed from the receiving to the delivery end of the series, the direction of rotation of said cylinder and Workers causing their teeth to travel forwardly at the points where they co-act.

In testimony whereof, we have signed our names to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FREDERICK PETER WOLL. CHARLES SCHOFIELD. Witnesses:

HAMILTON D. TURNER, KATE A. BEADLE. 

